What Story Does Your Ancestor's Job Tell You?

After visiting the idyllic towns in Italy where my grandfathers were born, I had to wonder why they left their families and came to America.

It turns out their occupations paint two very different pictures. These two stories may represent many immigrants to America.

Our ancestors sought opportunity, work, and a decent living.

The Skilled Craftsman

My maternal grandfather Adamo left Basélice, Italy twice. The first time he was 23 years old and already listed his occupation as shoemaker. He had two choices:

• Stay in Basélice and be one of a small number of shoemakers in a small town of about 2,000 people.
• Go to New York City and be one of many shoemakers serving thousands of people.

Unfortunately, Adamo's plans were rudely interrupted by World War I. He returned to Italy to fight and became a prisoner of war under brutal circumstances.

Eventually he made his way back to New York City. He continued working as a shoemaker and had his own store in the Bronx for a while. Later he did other types of leather work, making saddles and holsters for the police department.

For Adamo, a skilled young tradesman, coming to America meant greater opportunity doing what he knew how to do.

The Unskilled Laborer

My paternal grandfather Pietro left Colle Sannita, Italy at the age of 18. He had no skilled occupation. He was probably working the land to provide food for his family while his father Francesco made several visits to America for work.

On each of Francesco's trips to work in the United States, he was a laborer. He did whatever type of work was available, including railroad labor and mining.

Pietro did the same as his father, working at a bakery near his uncle's home, at a steel company near his cousin's home, and for the railroad. But he wanted a trade that wasn't so dirty and back-breaking. Oral history tells me that Grandpa's opinion of working in the railroad roundhouse was, "This job stinks on-a the ice."

Pietro became a jewel setter, working with his hands at a clean workbench. He liked it well enough that he kept a small workbench in his cellar at home and continued to make trinkets when I was a girl.

For Pietro, an unskilled laborer, coming to America meant opportunities in fields he might never have imagined.

Just as American families today are likely to relocate for a job at some point in their lives, our ancestors faced a similar situation. While they didn't have an IBM paying to move them to a new state, they did need to move in order to prosper.

It's not hard to understand that reality. Is it?

Picturing America Through Your Ancestors Eyes

When I think of my first ancestor coming from a small rural town in Italy to the metropolis of New York City in 1890, I picture him being overwhelmed by the congestion and fast pace.

But maybe it wasn't that hectic. New York City was dramatically different 127 years ago.

Look at Grand Central Terminal in the 1890s and today. The chaos of yellow taxis and delivery trucks was merely a cable car and some horse-drawn wagons. (And it looked nothing like today's building!)

Take a tour through the online photo collection of the Library of Congress for more images. You can narrow your search by choosing a time period and a location.

The library's collection of historic American buildings can give you a glimpse of the landmarks your ancestors saw in their day.

If your ancestors were here for generations before mine, you might like the Library of Congress' various map collections. Drill down through the Cities and Towns collection, then narrow the results by date and location.

It may be difficult to imagine any U.S. city being underdeveloped. These digital collections can help you get in touch with the United States of your ancestors.

How to Visualize Your Ancestor-Finding Progress

I've seen lots of graphics lately showing how many direct ancestors we each have. Two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, etc. It adds up fast!

Since I've been lucky enough to find a handful of 5th great grandparents lately, I thought it would be a good exercise to see where I stand.

I made a spreadsheet you can download with placeholders for grandparents in one column, great grandparents in the next column, and so on through 10th great grandparents.

Update: I've made a revised spreadsheet to include color coding for your four basic tree branches: one color for each grandparent. I've also created a row at the top to show how many ancestors we each have for each generation.

Then I used Family Tree Maker software to create a chart of my ancestors, labeling the generations. I scrolled across my chart and filled in the blanks on the spreadsheet.

Color coding the 4 branches helps a lot.

My results are mixed. When I identified four of my 8th great grandparents and four of my 9th great grandparents, I couldn't have been happier. But now I can see that they aren't even the tip of the iceberg. They're a crystal of the iceberg!

To focus on the plus side, I'm missing only three of my 32 3rd great grandparents. That's pretty good considering they never came to America.

I'm missing 23 of my 64 4th great grandparents. After that, I'm not even counting. Yet.

On the plus side, now I can focus my work on finding as many of the missing "younger" generations as I can. (See "5 Steps to Grow Your Italian Family Tree" and "How I Gained 2 More Generations in 1 Day".)

See what this progress report can tell you about your research!

Simplify Your Genealogy Info Gathering With This Form

Skip the handwritten notes with these fill-in-the-blanks family genealogy worksheets

Years ago on a trip to the New York City Municipal Archives, my genealogy buddy Dawn gave me Word document forms to print out. There was one for birth records, one for death records, and one for marriage records.

The forms saved us each a ton of time because we were focused on locating and writing down all the key facts.

But after 35 years at a keyboard all day, I can barely sign my name anymore. Typing, on the other hand, I can do in my sleep.

I created a series of PDF forms you can download and use repeatedly. They are fill-in-the-blanks forms you can save. When you begin using one, do a "Save As" and give it a unique name. You can return to a saved file and add more to it at any time.

Write on the sheet or type in the field and capture the critical information.

Note: I've created several new forms since this article was first published. Let me know if you have any problems or find any errors. This group is in PDF format:

• Family Group Sheet
• 1900 U.S. Federal Census
• 1910 U.S. Federal Census
• 1920 U.S. Federal Census
• 1930 U.S. Federal Census
• 1940 U.S. Federal Census

This group is in Word format:

• Family Group Sheet
• 1900 U.S. Federal Census
• 1910 U.S. Federal Census
• 1920 U.S. Federal Census
• 1930 U.S. Federal Census
• 1940 U.S. Federal Census

Tips & Tools to Help You Translate Foreign Genealogy Records

There are tons of Facebook genealogy groups devoted to very specific readers. If you search, you can find a group devoted to your area of research: Southern Italian Genealogy, Hesse Germany Genealogy Group, Polish Texan Genealogy, French Canadian Genealogy. You name it!

In these groups you will find many people seeking translations of foreign birth, marriage and death records. And there are countless people willing to help.

But you can become a self-sufficient translator of your own documents. Often the hardest part is figuring out the letters themselves. It helps tremendously to know the types of words you're looking for.

If you learn the genealogical keywords, numbers, months, days, etc., in the language you need, the words will become clearer to you.

When you're stuck on a letter or two, search the rest of the document for any other markings that may be the same letter. When you have an educated guess, plug it into Google Translate and see what you get.

Don't be intimidated! You just have to know what you're looking for.

Here are several excellent resources to help you learn the words you need to know in four languages. If the language you need is not here, visit the FamilySearch Wiki for more.

Italian

• Genealogical words
• Numbers
• Occupations
• Common name abbreviations
• List of many surnames
• Surnames used for foundlings

German

• Genealogical words
• Numbers
• Occupations and other general words
• List of 100 surnames and their meaning
• Helpful spelling rules

Polish

• Genealogical words
• Numbers, months, and days
• Occupations and other general words
• Free book: "A Translation Guide to 19th Century Polish-Language Civil-Registration Documents"

French

• Genealogical words
• Numbers
• Months and days
• Occupations and other general words

Still getting stuck? Join a Facebook genealogy group for your ethnicity. You'll find a wealth of knowledge and very helpful genealogists.

And speaking of foreign-language documents:

• What Language Barrier?
• How to Read Names on Badly Written Vital Records
• You Can Read Foreign-Language Genealogy Records

How to Find More Great Grandfathers for Father's Day

Last night I discovered the names of a few of my 4th and 5th great grandparents in Italy. And I plan to gather many more.

I've written before about using the online Italian Genealogy Archives known as Antenati (see How to Use the Online Italian Genealogy Archives). And I've told you how I used that site to gain two generation in one day.

Because I had so much good fortune with my family tree last night, I want to share a few tips and methods with you.

In a few steps I found my 5th great grandfather, Innocenzo Cerrone.

First, start with the youngest ancestor you would like to find in the archives, like your grandfather. If you don't already know the names of his parents, you will find them on his birth record, along with their ages.

Next:

Consenting to marriage by making a mark.

• Search the surrounding years for the birth of his siblings. You'll know you've found them if the parents' names match and their ages are a reasonable match. I say that because in the old days you might not know exactly how old you were. (I have to do the math to figure out my husband's age every time someone asks!)
  Note: An Italian woman in the 1800s might bear children for 20 years straight! My own grandfather was 20 years older than this sister.
• When you think you've found the firstborn child in a family (because the parents are so young), go back one year and search for the parents' marriage. (See How to Read Italian Marriage Records.)
  Example: When I found the 1841 birth record for a sister of my great great grandmother, and the new mother was only 20 years old, I searched the 1840 marriage records and found their wedding documents.
• Use the marriage documents (see The Italian Genealogy Goldmine: "Wedding Packets") to identify the names of your great grandparents' parents. Marriages required the consent of one's parents, so their names are listed.
  Note: Sometimes to distinguish between people with the same name, a person's father's name is included. If the name is listed as Giovanni di Giuseppe, Giovanni's father Giuseppe is still alive. If it's listed at Giovanni fu Giuseppe, Giovanni's father Giuseppe has died. Now you have another great grandfather and a date by which he died.
• Look through the marriage records in the Matrimoni, processetti (Weddings, processions) section. If the bride or groom's father has died, that death record is included. This provides yet another set of great grandparents' names. If the bride or groom's grandfather has also died, you will see his death record. Now you have the names of the great grandparents of the bride or groom—who may already be your great great grandparents!
• Keep in mind these other facts as you go back in time:
  
  • My extensive research of a few rural Italian towns in the 1800s shows that the average age of marriage was 25. You will see some younger and some older, but this has been the average. If one spouse is a lot older than that, it's probably not their first marriage.
  • When a child died, it was extremely common to use the same name, or a slight variation of the name, on the next child born. In my search last night, I found an Anna Cerrone born to my 4th great grandparents. I wasn't sure she was my 3rd great grandmother. I had seen my 3rd great grandmother listed as Anna Donata or Donata, and this baby was simply Anna. So I kept searching. Sure enough, baby Anna had died, and they name the next baby girl Anna Donata Cerrone. So don't go chasing the wrong sibling.
  • There was no divorce in Italy until 1970, but you will find lots of remarriages. If someone became a widow, they did not stay that way for long. They would remarry and continue bearing children as long as possible. I have seen a few people from this era who were married four times. Today that has a whole different connotation!
  • You will find some human error on these documents. I have seen the wrong birth certificate included in wedding documents. It doesn't happen often, but when siblings have the same exact name, mistakes can happen!

So this Father's Day, I invite you to find the names of a few new-to-you Nth great grandfathers. Celebrate their names and be grateful to them. Without any single one of them, you would not be here.